Only Love Can Hurt Like This
by Faberrittanainthetardis
Summary: PLL/Faking it crossover. Emily sees Paige with Amy and gets the wrong idea about their relationship. Paily/Karmy ships (slight Hanna/Amy).
1. Chapter 1

Paige had just lifted her glass of water to take a sip when she spotted a familiar blonde enter the Grille. She quickly set her glass of water down and stood up to greet her friend with a brief hug that was gratefully accepted. In fact if anything, Amy held on for longer than Paige had expected.

"Are you okay?" Paige asked, making no move to push Amy away. It seemed like the blonde really needed the embrace. "Did something happen?"

Amy sighed softly and nodded against Paige's shoulder. She pulled away and smiled softly before she moved to sit down opposite her friend. "I'm having Karma issues. What else is new, right?" She eyed the glass of soda in front of her and glanced up at Paige with a small smile. "For me?"

Paige nodded though she was focused more on what Amy had said before she'd noticed the soda. "What's going on with Karma? Are you guys fighting again?"

"I guess you could say that." Amy took a drink of her soda, more to put off answering than anything else. "Karma knows that I'm not faking. She knows that I have feelings for her."

"You told her?" Paige asked in surprise, her attention focused solely on Amy. "How?"

"Not exactly, she guessed. And then I pretty much begged her to give me a chance. God, it was so embarrassing." Amy felt her cheeks heat up at the memory of everything she had said to Karma that night. She sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck and glanced down at the table. "She told me she loves me, she just doesn't love me like that."

"So you're avoiding her?" Paige guessed with a sad smile. It was exactly what she would do in the situation. She had done that as a matter of fact. On a number of occasions.

"Oh, I'm not done yet. I'm not even at the messed up part." Amy said wearily. "Karma told me that she slept with Liam and I stormed off. And I slept with Liam."

"You _what?!"_ Paige's voice came out louder than she'd intended and Amy quickly shushed her. Paige quietened down, her voice dropping to a whisper. "You slept with Liam Booker? The guy you described as cocky, annoying and an overall asshole? Why would you do that?"

"I don't know, I guess I was just…he was mad at Karma and I was mad at Karma and we both found comfort in each other, I guess. Karma knows. She walked in on us." Amy meekly shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know what I was thinking, Paige. I just wanted to feel something and Liam was there. The point is I've really fucked things up with Karma and I don't know what to do."

Paige frowned and reached across the table to grasp Amy's free hand. "I'm sorry, Amy. But from what you've told me, you and Karma always find your way back to each other in the end. She probably just needs some time to process what's happened."

Amy nodded though she wasn't entirely convinced. She gripped Paige's hand and forced a smile. "Enough about me and my problems. What's going on with you and your girl?"

"Oh, we're still broken up. It's complicated." Paige replied vaguely. She couldn't really talk about what had happened with Emily, not accurately anyway, because of the A thing. "I think she has something going on with Alison."

"Alison?" Amy echoed, quirking an eyebrow. "That's the friend who came back from the dead, right?"

"Yeah." Paige sighed forlornly at the reminder. "That's her."

XXX

"So then Spencer was like 'No Hanna, you have to do your own homework. If you don't do it you're never going to learn and you'll fail any tests on it because you haven't read the book. Blah, blah, blah. So I…"

"Hanna, would you…?" Emily was barely listening to Hanna's ramblings as they entered the Grille but when she spotted Paige sitting in the corner with some other girl she stopped listening completely. She stopped walking too, coming to a standstill near the entrance. "Oh."

"What?" Hanna looked at Emily to see that she was staring at something across the room. She followed her gaze in confusion. "Hey, isn't that Paige? Who's that girl she's with?"

"I don't know." Emily admitted softly, her eyes fixed to the blonde. She'd never seen before. She certainly wasn't on the swim team. Emily didn't even recognize her as being in their grade.

"She's kind of cute." Hanna said thoughtfully, looking the blonde over. "Are they…?"

"Looks like it." Emily interrupted, not wanting to hear the words come out of Hanna's mouth. She glared at the joined hands on the table, a sickening feeling of jealousy causing her gut to churn. She knew that she had no right to feel jealous, she wasn't even with Paige anymore and Paige was entitled to move on with someone else, but the sight of Paige with someone else hurt more than she wanted to admit. She was so distracted by the clench in her chest that she didn't realize Hanna was speaking until it was too late to argue.

"…over there and introduce ourselves."

Emily heard the last part of Hanna's sentence before the blonde grabbed her hand and dragged her over to the table. Emily tried to pull her hand away but she didn't have enough time to do so.

"Hey Paige!" Hanna chirped brightly, coming to a stop near Emily's ex.

Paige looked up along with Amy. "Oh. Hey, Hanna." Her eyes slid toward Emily, her voice softening slightly. "Emily."

"Emily?" Amy blurting out, raising an eyebrow in surprise. She noticed the surprised look Emily shot her and she shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry. I've just heard a lot about you." She looked to Paige with a smirk. "You weren't kidding."

"_Amy_." Paige hissed, giving the blonde's hand a tight squeeze. That acted as a reminder that she was holding it and she quickly let go, pulling her hand back across the table.

"Amy." Hanna echoed thoughtfully, a soft grin tugging at her lips. "Great. Now we all know each other, do you mind if we join you guys? It's kind of busy in here."

Paige cast a sceptical glance around but chose not to point out the fact that less than half of the tables were taken up.

Hanna took a seat opposite Amy and reached over to grab Emily's hand, tugging her down into the seat next to her. She looked to Amy in curiosity. "So you guys are friends? I don't recognize you from school, are you from a different town?"

"Hanna." Emily sighed wearily, well aware of what Hanna was trying to do.

"Yeah," Amy answered with a small smile, struggling to adapt to the fact that Paige's ex-girlfriend. "We are friends. I'm not from around here, Paige and I actually met online."

Hanna made a face. "Like online dating?"

"No, not like online dating." Paige laughed softly at Hanna's question and finally managed to tear her eyes away from Emily. She felt like she'd been staring since Emily had gotten to the table and she was sure it was getting creepy. "We actually met on a forum."

"What kind of forum?"

Amy took it upon herself to provide that answer. "I was struggling with my sexuality and Paige helped me out. We talked for a while until we found out that we're only a couple of towns apart and decided to meet up."

Emily felt her stomach sink at the confirmation that Amy was in fact gay, or bisexual perhaps. She cleared her throat and slowly stood up from her seat. "I um…I actually have a thing I need to be doing. I'm sorry, I should…yeah." She barely managed a quick glance at Paige before she hurried away.

Paige half stood up from her seat, ready to go after Emily but she faltered and glanced to Hanna. "Maybe you should…?"

Hanna rolled her eyes and motioned for Paige to go on after Emily. "I'll keep your 'friend' company while you're gone."

Paige hesitated for a moment but when it became apparent that Hanna wasn't going to move she reluctantly got up and went after Emily.

"So…" Amy spoke awkwardly, trying to figure out what had just happened. The fact that she was now alone with Hanna didn't work to make her any less uncomfortable.

"So are you dating Paige?" Hanna asked bluntly, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"What? No!" Amy vehemently shook her head. "No, no, no. Paige and I are just friends, there's nothing going on between us." She glanced in the direction Emily and Paige had left. "Is that what that was about? Your friend thinks that I'm dating her ex?"

Hanna hesitated for a moment before she gave a small nod. "Yeah, I guess so. Emily isn't exactly over Paige, she never is."

"Oh." Amy's eyes dropped to the table for a moment before she looked back up at Hanna. "Well if it helps at all I don't think Paige is over Emily either. But don't tell her that I said that."

Hanna smirked at Amy's worried expression. "I'll keep it to myself. So you said Paige is helping you figure out your sexuality? How exactly is she doing that?"

"Not in the way you're obviously thinking." Amy rolled her eyes in response to Hanna's mischievous tone but she could honestly say that she didn't mind it. It was nice to hear someone making light of the situation without outwardly mocking her. "I'm…" She trailed off when her phone started to ring. With a muttered apology she pulled it out of her pocket. She hesitated at the sight of Karma's picture on her screen. She wasn't even sure why Karma would be calling her after what had happened.

Hanna raised an eyebrow at Amy's hesitance. She didn't have to wait long for Amy to do something however as the other girl quickly rejected the call. "Who's Karma? Girlfriend?"

Amy almost scoffed at the suggestion. She wished. "Best friend."

"You're in love with her?"

Amy stared at Hanna in shock. "Is it that obvious?"

Hanna shrugged, laughed softly at the look on Amy's face. "No, not really. I've seen it before, with Emily. I guess I just recognize the signs. Have you told her?"

"Sort of. We were faking being lesbians so we'd be more popular." Amy answered softly. She couldn't help but smile at Hanna's confused expression. "Don't ask. The point is, she was faking and I realized that I wasn't. She eventually guessed that I'm in love with her. She doesn't love me back. So I slept with the guy she likes."

"Wow." Hanna blinked at Amy in surprise. "That's some L word shit."

Amy chuckled and nodded her head. "I guess." She took a sip of her water and glanced down when her phone began to ring again. Karma. She sighed softly, staring at the picture on her screen for a couple of seconds before she rejected the call again. "Don't judge me, I don't think screaming at each other on the phone will do either of us any good right now."

Hanna rolled her eyes. "I wasn't judging. Much."

Amy smirked and looked up at Hanna, a thought occurring to her. "I know this might seem kind of awkward, and weird now since you know I'm in love with my best friend, but do you want to go out for coffee sometime? With me, I mean? On a date?"

"Uh…"

XXX

"Emily!" Paige called after Emily as they stepped out of the Grille and Emily started toward her car. She reached out and closed her hand around Emily's, gently tugging her to a stop. "Emily, wait. What was that about? What's going on?"

"Nothing." Emily pulled her wrist away from Paige and crossed her arms in front of her chest, looking away. "It's nothing, don't worry about it. You should get back to your date, I'm sorry we interrupted."

"My date?" Paige raised an eyebrow in surprise. "I'm not…it's not like that, Amy is my friend. That's all. There's nothing going on between us."

"Oh." Emily blushed and looked away, awkwardly tucking her thumbs into the front pockets of her jeans. "I'm sorry, I just assumed that you were on a date."

Paige stared at Emily for a long moment, wondering what she was supposed to say to that. "Well it's not. Amy is just going through something right now and I want to be there for her."

Emily nodded silently, embarrassed by her mistake. "Okay, I um…I guess I'll leave you to that. I wouldn't want to get in the way."

"You wouldn't be getting in the way, I actually think that Amy could use your advice." Paige disagreed with a shake of her head. "You know what it's like to be in love with your best friend. Though I guess it worked out better for you than it is for her." She noticed Emily wince and instantly felt bad about the accidental blow. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

"No, it's fine. I guess I deserved that." Emily said uncomfortably, her thoughts drifting to Alison. She had been waiting for her friend to want her for such a long time, she wasn't sure why it felt so wrong now. "I really do have to go."

"Wait…" Paige resisted the urge to reach out and take Emily's hand. She was hurting and she could tell that Emily was too. "I really do want to be your friend if I can't have anything else, Emily. Maybe you could hang out with me and Amy sometime? I think you'd get on well with her."

"Maybe. I'll think about it." Emily took a step back, feeling her heart constricting in her chest. "Will you tell Hanna I'm waiting in the car for her?"

Paige opened her mouth, wanting to protest but ended up nodding instead. "Sure." She sighed softly and turned around, walking back into the restaurant. She walked over to the table in time to catch Amy rambling about something.

"…sorry, I shouldn't have just asked you that. I should have at least flirted first. You're probably not even interested. I'm so new at this, I'm sorry."

Paige winced and quickly stepped in to keep Amy from embarrassing herself. "Hanna, Emily is waiting for you in the car."

Hanna pouted at the fact that she wasn't even going to get to eat but she nodded and stood up. She winked at Amy. "Paige has my number."

Paige glanced between Amy and Hanna in confusion as the latter walked away. "What was that about?"

Amy covered her face with her hands. "I asked her out for coffee."

Paige couldn't help but laugh as she moved back to her seat. "Of course you did. I'm not even surprised."

"Shut up." Amy threw the slightly shredded napkin in front of her at Paige. "I need to get over Karma. What better way than to get under someone else?"

"I can actually think of a lot of better ways."

"_Paige_."

XXX

"What are you so happy about?" Emily asked as she watched Hanna get into the car. The blonde was grinning from ear to ear.

"Amy." Hanna answered simply as she buckled up. "She asked me out for coffee. I told you I'm attractive to gay girls."

Emily gave a short bark of laughter and shook her head. "Did you say yes? Are you even interested in girls?"

"I've been attracted to girls, I've just never tried being with one." Hanna answered casually, leaning back in her seat. "Besides, I'm single. Maybe it's time to mix things up. I told her Paige has my number. If she calls, that's great. If she doesn't, it doesn't matter."

Emily nodded silently and pulled away from the curb.

"There's nothing going on between them by the way." Hanna spoke up, watching Emily closely. She couldn't quite put her finger on Emily's mood but she could tell that her friend was upset about something. "So you don't have to worry about that."

"Yeah, I know." Emily said softly. Not wanting to talk about it, she reached out and put the radio on.

TBC (Maybe).


	2. Chapter 2

**So here's a second chapter because you guys asked for it! I'm glad you're liking the Amy/Hanna by the way, that ship is amazing. And I'm all for potentially playing around with Hanna/Amy/Karma drama. **

"Emily, you've been staring at Paige for over ten minutes." Spencer said gently, doing her best not to roll her eyes at Emily's typical behaviour. "What gives? I thought you broke up with her, not the other way around."

"I did break up with her." Emily's eyes lingered on Paige for another few minutes before she finally managed to tear them away and focus on Spencer. "I'm not staring at her, I just…I just happened to be looking in that direction, okay?"

She went back to picking at her lunch, leaving Spencer baffled. She looked to Hanna for an explanation only to find her texting with a goofy grin on her face, completely ignoring the food in front of her. "What's gotten into you two?"

Hanna didn't so much as look up from her phone and Emily sighed softly, realizing it was up to her to answer the question. "Nothing's gotten into us. I was just thinking about the situation with A, it's giving me a…"

She was cut off by an excited squeal from Hanna and she winced slightly, flinching away in surprise. "Did you have to do that right in my ear, Hanna?"

Hanna shrugged sheepishly and went back to grinning at her phone. "Sorry, I was texting Amy. She says she wants to meet tomorrow for our coffee date."

"Coffee date?" Spencer echoed in confusion. She glanced between Hanna and Emily, feeling completely out of the loop. "Who's Amy and why are you meeting her for a coffee date?"

"She's Paige's friend." Emily answered, her gaze instinctively shifting back to where Paige was sitting with Sydney and a couple of her other friends.

"Her cute friend." Hanna cut in brightly, setting her phone aside for a moment to focus on the conversation. "Like really cute."

"Her as in female?" Spencer asked, raising an eyebrow at Hanna.

"Yeah, whatever." Hanna waved Spencer off with a roll of her eyes. "She happens to be a girl, I don't care. Besides, she asked me out. I'm not going to pass up on that."

"I really don't understand you." Spencer admitted with a wary shake of her head. She looked to Emily only to receive a shrug in response. She eventually gave in, concluding that if Emily didn't understand, nobody was going to. "So do I know her?"

"No, she's not from around here." Hanna answered with a shake of her head as she turned her attention back to her phone, trying to eat, talk and text at the same time. "She's from…I don't know where, I can't remember. We only talked for ten minutes."

"But you got a coffee date out of it?" Spencer asked in confusion. She rubbed her temples, feeling a headache coming on.

"It's a coffee date, we're not eloping." Hanna briefly glanced up at Spencer before she turned her attention back to her phone, concentrating intently on the screen. "Relax, Spencer."

"I can't relax, how do we know this girl isn't another Shana, coming to hunt us down?" Spencer questioned, glaring pointedly at Hanna. "I don't think we're in any position to just relax."

"Well thanks for the vote of confidence. I can get a girl to actually like me you know." Hanna finally looked up from her phone, glaring daggers at Spencer. "And for that matter, so can Paige."

"Amy doesn't like Paige like that." Emily frowned at Hanna, affronted by the suggestion. "Paige said there's nothing going on between them."

"I know, I know." Hanna waved Emily off, her attention fixed on her phone. "Relax, Paige is all yours."

"Paige is what?"

Emily, Hanna and Spencer looked up at the sound of Paige's voice only to find her hovering awkwardly near the table.

Emily cringed with embarrassment and silently hoped that Paige really hadn't heard the rest of that sentence. "Um…nothing. Hanna was just talking about Amy."

Paige smiled and nodded her head, reluctantly tearing her attention away from Emily to look toward Hanna. "Did she ask you out yet? She asked me for your number about a week ago. I know she's coming back to town tomorrow."

"Yeah, she did." Hanna held up her phone, trying to supress the grin that threatened to tug at her lips. "She texted me a few minutes ago and asked me out on a coffee date."

"I hope you have fun, Amy is great." Paige said, shifting apprehensively. She glanced back to Emily, trying to come up with something to say. "I'm sorry I interrupted."

"You didn't interrupt." Emily said quickly, giving a small shake of her head. "Do you want to join us?"

"No, I um…I have to go." Paige said softly, glancing down at the ground.

"Oh." Emily tried not to look too disappointed. She glanced between Hanna and Spencer before she turned to Paige, lowering her voice slightly. "Do you think we could meet later? Maybe we could have that talk?"

"I-I can't, I'm busy tonight. My parents want me home for dinner." Paige sighed softly at the thought. Usually a family dinner meant that she would be experiencing some kind of lecture. Her parents were good at giving lectures. "I do want to talk to you though. Maybe another time."

"Yeah, okay." Emily brightened up just a little bit, relieved that Paige wasn't busy because she was going on a date. "That would be nice."

"Great, I'll call you." Paige smiled softly at Emily and glanced at Hanna. "I hope your date goes well, Hanna." She nodded at Spencer before she left, walking back to her friends.

"You're so not over her." Spencer smirked at Emily. "Is that what your talk is about? You want to be with her again."

"No. Not that it's any of your business, but I just want to talk to her about everything that happened between us. I want to apologize." Emily answered, frowning at Spencer. "I do want to be with her but I don't think that's going to happen. She's moving on."

"Bullshit." Hanna retorted without looking up from her phone. "Why do you think she even came over here? She was looking for any excuse to talk to you. She's about as over you as you are her. It's obvious."

Emily opened her mouth to protest but she almost immediately shut it again. That wasn't an argument she was going to win and everything Hanna had said was true anyway. She wasn't over Paige, she just wanted to force herself into believing she was because there was no way Paige would want her back after everything she'd done.

XXX

"Hey!"

Amy looked up quickly and smiled at the sight of Hanna walking toward her. She stood up and stepped forward though her brow furrowed in confusion when she realized she wasn't sure how to greet her. "Hey."

Hanna laughed at the confused look on Amy's face and leaned in, kissing her cheek before she sat down. She quirked an eyebrow at the cup in front of her. "You ordered my coffee? How did you know what I drink?"

"I asked Paige." Amy answered sheepishly, "I hope you don't mind."

"No, I don't." Hanna took a sip of her coffee and to her surprise found it to her liking. "Wait, you asked Paige? How did Paige know what I drink?"

"She called Emily to find out."

"Of course." Hanna smirked and set her coffee down again. "I'm glad you actually called me."

"You are?" Amy asked, raising an eyebrow. "That's surprising. I acted like a bumbling idiot the last time we spoke."

"I think it was cute." Hanna retorted, giving Amy a playful nudge with her foot on the table. "The nervous rambling thing works for you. I said yes to going out for coffee with you, didn't I?"

"That's true, you did." Amy circled her fingers around the rim of her cup. "I couldn't have made that much of a bad first impression. I'm um…kind of new at this."

Hanna shrugged. "I'm kind of new at this too. I've never been with a girl before."

Amy looked at Hanna, observing her with a look of curiosity. "You don't seem to care about that."

"Why would I care? I like who I like, that's all that really matters."

"So you like me?" Amy smirked over at Hanna, feeling rather smug about that fact. It was refreshing to have her feelings returned, at least somewhat.

"Obviously. What's not to like?" Hanna answered casually. Her eyes flitted down to Amy's lips and she licked her own. She leaned forward slowly, not failing to notice the way Amy's eyes widened for a second before fluttering shut. Hanna smiled to herself and reached out, trailing thumb over Amy's lips to remove the foam from her coffee. She settled back in her seat, sucking the foam off her thumb.

Amy opened her eyes and blushed, both at Hanna's actions and the fact that she had misinterpreted them. "Um…so how is Emily?"

"Emily is fine." Hanna answered, sliding her thumb out of her mouth. She wrapped her hands around her coffee, her gaze settling on Amy again. "Kind of. She's not over Paige and she's in denial."

Amy nodded her head. "I get that."

Hanna grinned and nudged Amy's hand. "Talking about another girl while we're on a date? You really are new at this whole thing, huh?"

"What? No!" Amy vehemently shook her head, staring at Hanna through wide eyes. "I wasn't talking about Karma, I was talking about Paige. Mostly."

Hanna nodded and sipped at her coffee. "How is that going?"

Amy sighed and relaxed back into her seat. "Well she wants to be my friend again, even after I slept with the guy she liked. But she thinks I'm pulling away from her, which I suppose I am but it's hard to be around her without feeling the things that I feel and…" She trailed off, biting her lip. "Okay, now I really am talking about another girl."

"I don't mind." Hanna replied nonchalantly. "I want to know more about you and if that means finding out about this girl you're in love with, I guess that's okay."

Amy didn't look at all convinced. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Hanna leaned forward, bracing herself with her arms crossed on the table. "What has she done to win your affections back?"

"Let's see…she followed me around for a while, she's bombarding me with sweet text messages, she serenaded me a few times." Amy answered, thinking back to when she had found Karma standing outside of her bedroom window.

"Seriously?" Hanna raised an eyebrow in surprise and laughed softly. "That's um…pretty sweet. Are you sure she's not in love with you?"

"It's more like rubbing salt in the wound." Amy winced at the question. "She sees me as her best friend and that's it. She says we're soulmates but in a platonic way."

"Ouch." Hanna reached out and placed her hand atop Amy's on the table. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Amy took a deep breath and lightly gripped Hanna's hand, giving her a small smile. "It does suck but I have something else to focus on now. I was hoping that maybe we could have that double date we were talking about. With Paige and Emily."

"Wow, you do move fast." Hanna grinned at the proposition. She quickly continued before Amy had a chance to take it back. "Sure, I would love to. Besides, what better way to get Emily and Paige back together than to force them into spending time together?"

"Exactly!" Amy answered brightly. "Paige is miserable without Emily. She tried to go on a date the other day, she called me to tell me it was awful. That she was thinking about Emily the whole time."

"She was thinking about Emily?" Hanna replied suggestively.

Amy rolled her eyes. "Not like that. According to Paige the date didn't even end with a kiss so I'm assuming it must have been really awful."

"So you're in?" Hanna asked hopefully. "You want to help me get Paige and Emily back together?"

"Of course I'm in, I have nothing better to do." Amy answered without hesitation. "Besides if it means I get to spend time with you, who am I to complain?"

Hanna grinned. "That was pretty cheesy."

"Sorry." Amy apologized, giving a sheepish shrug of her shoulders.

Hanna leaned forward and lightly brushed her lips against Amy's. "Don't be."

Amy inhaled slowly, shuddering subtly at the whispered words against her lips. She leaned in and kissed Hanna properly this time. She was pleasantly surprised when Hanna responded to the kiss right away. Her lips tingled as they moved languidly against Hanna's, the touch sending sparks of excitement coursing through her body. So it wasn't just Karma then.

TBC.


	3. Chapter 3

**Third chapter as requested, I'm glad you guys are still into this. Hamy or Karmy? Let me know! ;]**

Paige walked into the Brew, her eyes automatically scanning the coffee shop for any sign of Emily. She brightened slightly when she found her standing by the counter. She hadn't been sure if Emily would be working that day but she was glad to see her. She walked over to the counter, brushing her hair behind her ear. "Hey."

Emily looked up and smiled warmly at the sight of Paige standing in front of her. "Hey. Do you want a coffee?"

"Well this is a coffee shop." Paige retorted playfully. "The usual please." She watched as Emily grabbed a cup and turned away to fill it with filter coffee. "Are we still on for tonight?"

Emily glanced over her shoulder. "The double date? Yeah, Hanna hasn't stopped talking about it since we agreed to it. I think she's really into your friend."

"You're calling it a double date now too?" Paige laughed softly and looked away from Emily, failing to notice the embarrassed look on her face.

"Sorry, you know Hanna. She knows it's not a date for us since we're not together, she just likes to call it one." Emily pressed the plastic lid onto Paige's coffee cup and set it down in front of her. "I'll see you tonight?"

"Yeah, sure." Paige handed Emily some money, smiling softly at her. "We're meeting at the Grille at seven, right?"

"That's right." Emily's eyes lingered on Paige for a moment. "I'll see you there."

"I'll see you later, Em." Paige said softly before she turned and walked out of the coffee shop. She noticed that Emily had doubled up the cup and she smiled despite the faint ache in her chest.

XXX

"So then she all but dragged me up to the stage even though I insisted on not singing." Emily rambled on, grinning fondly at Paige as she recalled their first date at Amy's request. "That's when I realized I was really into her. I like…"

"Ballsy women." Paige interjected with a warm smile. "I remember you mentioning that a few times."

Hanna rolled her eyes. "Yeah, she's mentioned it to us a few times too, especially when she's in the process of drooling over you."

"I do not!" Emily protested before she quickly turned to Paige, not wanting her to get the wrong idea. "I mean I do but…not in front of them. I mean…"

Paige chuckled softly, her cheeks heating up. "I think I know what you mean, Em. The feeling is mutual, believe me."

Hanna leaned close to Amy. "See what I mean?" She whispered before she leaned away, her voice changing to normal volume. "You still want to split desert, right? The chocolate sundae looks amazing."

Amy had been watching Paige intently, amused by the blush on her cheeks so she didn't fail to notice when Paige's eyes shifted to something over her shoulder, her brow furrowing slightly in confusion. "Hey, Amy…isn't that Karma?"

Amy froze in place for a couple of seconds before she slowly turned her head to find Karma walking toward her. There was a determined look on her face, one Amy knew usually meant trouble. "Uh…yeah. That's her."

Hanna turned slightly in her seat too, deciding to check out the person who apparently had Amy's heart. She raised an eyebrow as she looked Karma up and down. Karma was too focused on Amy to even notice.

"There you are!" Karma exclaimed in relief when she reached the table. "I've sent you like a million texts and you've been ignoring my calls. What gives?"

"Um…I've kind of been busy, Karma." Amy answered awkwardly, casting a quick glance at Hanna. "I'm busy right now. Can we do this later? Wait…how did you even know where I would be?"

Karma had the good grace to look sheepish. "I kind of may have followed you here. But in my defence, I was worried about you and I'm kind of desperate here."

"And I thought we had it bad with stalkers." Hanna muttered under her breath, apparently not quietly enough as Karma glanced at her with a frown.

"Who are your friends?"

"Oh. Um…this is my friend, Paige." Amy motioned to Paige. "And her girlfriend, Emily. This is Hanna, my…uh…"

"Date." Hanna provided when she noticed that Amy was floundering. She placed a gentle hand on her arm though she kept her eyes trained on Karma. "I'm her date."

"We don't talk for a couple of weeks and you're already going on double dates with lesbians?" Karma asked, turning to Amy in confusion. "What happened to being confused?"

Emily cleared her throat and awkwardly stood up. "I should be going. I have um…I have things to do. I'll call you later, Han."

"I'll go with you." Paige quickly stood up too and stepped away from the table, not wanting to be left in the awkward situation. She waited for Emily to grab her jacket and join her before she headed toward the doorway with one last fleeting look at Emily.

"I just want to talk to you, Amy. Just give me a chance." Karma pleaded softly, seemingly not even seeming to notice that Hanna was still sitting right there. "I miss you. You're my best friend, I feel lost without you."

Much to Amy's annoyance, she felt a lump rise in her throat, her eyes stinging with tears. "I miss you too. I just can't be around you right now, Karma. It's too hard."

Karma's lower lip noticeably trembled and she reached down to grip Amy's hand. "You said you didn't want to tell me how you feel because you didn't want to lose me. I don't want to lose you either, Amy. But I feel like I am. You're pulling away from me and I don't know what to do."

Hanna silently stood up, deciding to give them some privacy. Her departure caught Amy's attention but she quickly turned back to Karma.

"I don't know how we're going to get past this." Karma said, sniffling softly. "All I know is I'm lost without you and we have to try. Can we talk about this, at least?"

Amy took a deep breath and nodded her head. "Later. I'll come by your house later and we can talk. I can't just leave."

Karma smiled softly and leaned in to give Amy a tight hug. She felt a momentary flash of doubt, wondering if Amy would be okay with the hug but she quickly relaxed when her best friend melted into the embrace, hugging her back as tightly as she could. They both allowed the embrace to linger for a moment before Karma slowly pulled back, swiping at her cheeks. "You'll definitely come by my house later?"

"Yeah, sure." Amy forced a small smile and nodded her head. "I'll come by when I finish up here."

"Okay. I'll be waiting." Karma stood up slowly and gave Amy's hand another squeeze before she let go and walked back out of the restaurant.

Amy glanced around in search of Hanna but didn't see her. She waited a few moments, sipping her water slowly before she came to the conclusion that Hanna must have left already. With a defeated sigh she stood up, tossed some money down next to Paige and Emily's on the table and walked out. She did a double take when she found Hanna waiting for her, leaning back against her car. "Uh…hey."

"I figured you needed some time alone with your not-girlfriend." Hanna said with a soft smirk. She looked Amy over, noting the tear tracks on her cheeks and her smile dropped slightly. "We missed desert. Do you want to get some ice cream and go somewhere quiet?"

"Yeah, that would be nice." Amy said, nodding her head. She swiped at her cheeks one more time before she moved to get into her car.

XXX

"Here you go." Paige said quietly, bringing the car to a stop outside of Emily's house. She was met with silence and she turned to Emily to find her staring straight ahead, her eyes unfocused. "Emily?" She reached out to gently touch Emily's shoulder only for her to flinch in surprise. "Hey, it's okay. It's just me. Where did you go?"

"Sorry." Emily shook her head, trying to focus. "I was just thinking."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Paige asked softly, pulling her hand back. She dropped it into her lap keeping her attention focused on Emily.

Emily sighed softly and unclipped her seatbelt, turning slightly in her seat to face Paige. "I was thinking about Hanna and your friend. And what happened at the restaurant with um…"

"Karma." Paige provided quietly. "What about them?"

"Hanna just broke up with Caleb a couple of months ago and I'm sure your friend is nice but she obviously has feelings for her best friend." Emily said, her voice filled with worry. "I just don't want to see Hanna end up getting hurt again."

"And if she keeps going with Amy, she might get hurt." Paige summarized thoughtfully. She reached out and touched Emily's hand. "I'll give Amy a heads up. But we can't keep them from being together. Maybe they know what they're doing. Maybe this is just temporary. Some relationships just aren't meant to last, I guess."

"You really think that?" Emily looked up at Paige in contemplation. "What about us? Do you think we just…weren't mean to last?"

Paige swallowed apprehensively. "That's a loaded question, Em. I think that we had things working against us. Time and people and circumstances…"

Emily was hyper aware of Paige's fingers trailing across the back of her hand. "That doesn't answer my question. Do you think we should have lasted?"

"I think that…I never thought of a future without you in it." Paige looked up at Emily, meeting her eyes intently. "Does that answer your question?"

Without a word, Emily leaned across the centre console and pressed her lips to Paige's, her hand shifting to her ex's shoulder for balance.

Paige tensed for a split second before she melted into the kiss, gently returning it as her hand shifted to Emily's cheek. She kissed her slowly, basking in the simple sensation of her lips sliding against Emily's. She hadn't quite realized how much she had missed it before.

Emily slowly eased back, looking into Paige's eyes. "I miss you." She whispered, pressing her forehead against Paige's.

Paige closed her eyes and swallowed thickly. "I miss you too." She hesitated for a moment before she slowly pulled away. "I have to get back. I have homework and my parents will be worried."

"Oh." Emily felt her heart clench painfully in her chest, taking Paige's pulling away as a brushoff. "Yeah, sure. Um…will I see you soon?"

Paige hesitated for a moment, mulling that over. "Yes. You'll be seeing me soon, I'll come by the Brew or something."

"Okay." Emily tentatively leaned in and kissed Paige's cheek before she slowly got out of the car and headed down the path toward the front door.

XXX

"This is a pretty nice spot." Amy said quietly as she shuffled back on the hood of her car, looking out at the town below them. "Do you come here a lot?"

"Not much." Hanna joined Amy, sitting cross legged next to her. "I just figured it was somewhere quiet we could talk. If you want to talk that is, we can just eat ice cream if you want."

Amy smiled, aimlessly mixing up her bubblegum ice cream with the small plastic spoon she had been given. "Isn't it kind of weird to talk to you about the girl I'm in love with?"

Hanna shrugged. "I don't think anything about this is normal. I'm all ears. Shoot."

Amy sighed softly and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't really know what there is to say, Hanna. I don't know what's going on with me and Karma."

"You're avoiding her, right? Maybe you should start with the reason you're doing that." Hanna asked. She spooned some ice cream into her mouth, watching Karma closely.

"I guess I feel guilty after what happened with Liam." Amy answered thoughtfully, her brow furrowing slightly. "That's the guy she was interested in. The one I slept with. She said she forgives me but I know I hurt her."

"She hurt you too." Hanna pointed out somewhat bluntly.

Amy shrugged. "I can't blame her for not being interested in me romantically."

"That's not what I meant. I meant before you told her how you feel. It must have hurt to pretend to be with her while you have real feelings for her."

"I guess." Amy looked up into Hanna's eyes. "I just don't want to try to go back to normal and find that we never can. I don't want to lose her, she's my best friend."

"You'll never know if you don't try." Hanna said gently, shuffling closer to Amy. "You don't have her right now. What do you have to lose?"

"Her." Amy whispered, her bottom lip trembling ever so slightly. She felt her eyes growing damp and she blinked profusely.

"From what I saw today, I don't think you could ever lose her." Hanna said with a small smile. "She obviously loves you a lot, Amy. You should give her a chance. She might just surprise you."

Amy nodded slowly and surprised Hanna by leaning in and kissing her firmly, placing her ice cream down between them. Hanna's soon joined it and she curled an arm around Amy's back to pull her closer.

"You taste like bubblegum." She whispered against Amy's lips.

"Well you taste like chocolate." Amy countered, clenching Hanna's shirt in her fist. She pulled her in again and kissed her deeply, trying to lose herself in the kiss.

Hanna hummed approvingly and tried to shift closer by bracing them with a hand between them. She pulled away with a yelp when she accidentally pressed her hand down against the ice cream. "Shit!"

Amy took one look at Hanna's ice cream covered hand and burst out laughing. She watched as Hanna pouted and decided to make up for it. She gently gripped Hanna's hand and leaned in, trailing her tongue over her palm. "Better?"

"Uh…" Hanna stared at Amy with a surprised look on her face. "I don't know, I'm kind of sticky now."

Amy's cheeks tinted red at the suggestive response but she held Hanna's gaze. "Maybe we should fix that. The car is warmer than out here."

Hanna kissed Amy one more time before she slid off the hood of the car and moved to get in the backseat. Amy smirked smugly and moved to join Hanna, completely forgetting about the ice cream.

TBC.


	4. Chapter 4

Karma was just dozing off on top of her covers when there was a light knock at her door, startling her into consciousness. She jerked up into a sitting position just as Amy opened the door and slipped silently into the room.

Amy paused when she noticed the familiar bleary expression on Karma's face. "I'm sorry, did I wake you up?" She whispered, "I can come back tomorrow if you're tired."

"I'm never too tired for you, you know that." Karma said, running a hand over her face. She blinked rapidly to clear her vision. "You're late."

"I got distracted." Amy replied sheepishly, finally closing the door behind her. She stepped forward uncertainly to stand at the foot of Karma's bed. "I didn't realize how late it was until I was standing on your front porch. Your parents insisted that I come up which is kind of weird because it's after one in the morning."

Karma waved her off. "It's never too late for you to be here. Besides, my parents think we're in the middle of a fight, they want us to make up." She patted the space next to her on the bed. "Come on, sit down."

Amy hesitated for a moment but she couldn't deny the fact that it would be nice to be off her feet. She kicked her shoes off and climbed onto the bed, moving to lean back against the pillow with a content sigh. "You didn't fall asleep waiting for me, did you?"

"Of course I did." Karma said with a roll of her eyes. She shuffled closer to Amy, laying her head on her shoulder. "I want to talk to you."

Amy breathed slowly, trying not to focus on the way Karma smelled or the way she felt pressed up against her. She wasn't sure she could focus on anything with Karma that close, let alone talking. "Okay, let's talk."

Karma exhaled slowly, staring at the ceiling. "I just want to know why you've been avoiding me. Is it...because of the Liam thing? Is it because of your feelings for me?"

"Both, I think." Amy sighed softly, allowing her eyes to close. "I just feel so guilty when I look at you. Because of the Liam thing and because of the way being around you makes me feel. I thought that if I avoided you for long enough my feelings would go away and we could go back to the way things were before."

"I don't think that's the way it works." Karma said gently. She pulled away from Amy slightly and turned to look at her. "I'm not mad at you, Amy. Not anymore, I just want my best friend back. We can get through this, we don't have to lose what we have just because you're…"

"In love with you." Amy provided when Karma trailed off. She shuffled up and pulled her knees close to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. "I hate avoiding you, I uh...I think we should try it your way for a while."

"Good." Karma gave a relieved smile and gently nudged Amy's leg. "I miss having my best friend to talk to." She shuffled close to Amy again, feeling much better than she had a few minutes ago. "So what's new with you? I want to know everything."

Amy couldn't help but smile to herself. "Well I have a thing going on with someone now. With Hanna. You met her earlier at the restaurant actually. I'm not sure what's going on between us but I like her."

"Have you...done anything with her?" Karma asked carefully, trying to figure out whether Amy was into being physical with girls other than her.

"Yeah. Tonight actually." Amy answered, feeling slightly awkward. It was definitely weird to talk to the person you were in love with about the person you're having sex with. "In the back of my car. I was upset so she bought me ice cream and took me to somewhere that overlooks the town."

"Oh." Karma felt slightly nauseous, the smile that had lingered on her lips dropping away. "Sounds romantic."

"It was." Amy agreed, grinning to herself at the thought. "Anyway, one thing led to the other and we ended up having sex in the back of her car."

Karma swallowed heavily and gave a barely there nod of her head to show that she had heard. "So you're going to see her again?"

"I think so. I think I'm going to ask her out again." Amy answered brightly, completely unaware of Karma's reaction. "When do you think I should call? Is tomorrow too early to call?"

"Probably, you should leave it for a few days. You don't want to seem too eager, do you?" Karma looked up at Amy and gave her a small fake smile, trying to cover up the sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Yeah, you're right. I'll give it a few days and then I'll ask if she wants to go out with me again." Amy agreed, grinning to herself at the thought. She settled down against Karma, her cheek resting atop her friend's head. "I really missed you."

Karma smiled genuinely this time. "I really missed you too, Amy."

Amy was silent for a long moment before she finally spoke up. "We're going to be okay, aren't we?"

"Of course. Aren't we always?" Karma whispered back, her eyes sliding shut. She turned more into Amy's embrace, her hand sliding to the blonde's hip.

Amy released a shuddering breath and closed her eyes, hyper aware of the way Karma's body was pressed against hers. "Yeah. Yeah, we are."

XXX

Paige took a deep breath as she lifted her hand to knock on Emily's front door. She had been standing on the doorstep for what felt like hours, unable to sum up the courage to knock on the door.

"Come on, you can do this." She muttered to herself. She inhaled slowly and steeled herself before she lifted her hand and knocked swiftly on the front door. A few seconds passed with Paige nervously holding her breath until the door was pulled open. She was surprised that rather than finding Pam standing there she was faced with Emily who looked just as surprised to see her.

"Paige, hey." Emily smiled warmly at Paige, pleased to see her despite her confusion. "What are you doing here?"

Paige shrugged sheepishly, sliding her hands into her pockets. "We never got to have that talk. I was passing by and I thought I'd stop and see if you were busy. If you are we can do this another time, there's really no hurry."

"I'm not busy." Emily replied quickly. "My mom isn't home yet, come on in."

"Thanks." Paige waited until Emily moved aside before she slipped into the house. She glanced around the familiar foyer and smiled nervously. "Either it's been a really long time since the last time I was here or something is different."

"Different wallpaper." Emily answered in amusement, closing the door behind Paige. She brushed past her and led the way into the living room, taking a seat on the couch. "So you were passing by?"

"I'm always passing by, I don't live far." Paige carefully sat down next to Emily and apprehensively folded her hands in her lap. "I um...just decided to come over. I wanted to see you."

"Oh." Emily's lips twitched up into a small smile. "Good."

"Yeah…" Paige cleared her throat, her eyes flitting back up to Emily's. "I'm sorry I had to leave so quickly after we kissed on Friday, I just had a lot of thinking to do."

"I understand." Emily said quietly. She nervously licked her lips, choosing her next words carefully. "How did that go? Did you come to any conclusions about...us?"

"You could say that." Paige hesitated for a moment before she reached out and lightly gripped Emily's hand in her own. She was relieved when Emily squeezed back. "If you want to try again, I want to too. But only if you're sure it's what you want."

"It is." Emily replied without hesitation. "You're what I want, Paige."

"But you have to understand that you have to trust me enough to be honest with me, Em." Paige said seriously, trying to ignore the feeling of elation that threatened to overwhelm her. "And you have to understand that I love you, I'm never going to stop wanting to protect you."

"I understand. But you have to understand the same." Emily countered firmly, her grip on Paige's hand tightening.

Paige hesitated for a moment before she gave a nod of her head to show that she understood. "So we're back together? Officially?"

"Officially." Emily beamed happily, her free hand coming to rest on Paige's shoulder. "The only thing left to do is for you to shut up and kiss me."

Paige laughed softly and leaned in to do just that, her chest threatening to burst with happiness. Just as he lips grazed Emily's though, she heard the front door open rather abruptly. She jerked back, staring at Emily in alarm. "Your mom?"

Emily shook her head as she heard the door shut. "My mom doesn't finish work for another hour."

Paige pulled her hand from Emily's and was about to stand up to go and investigate the sound when Hanna stormed into the room, looking rather unhappy.

"Hanna, what are you doing here?" Emily asked, trying not to sound as annoyed at her friend as she felt. "What's going on?"

Rather than answering Emily, Hanna addressed Paige as she sat down next to her. "What's your friend's deal?"

"Amy?" Paige asked, glancing over at Emily in confusion. She was met with a baffled shrug. "What do you mean?"

"I mean is she the kind of person who would have sex with someone and then not call them back?" Hanna asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Not just sex but great sex."

"Um...no. I don't know." Paige answered carefully. "I haven't known her for very long, Hanna."

"You had sex with Amy?" Emily sat forward slightly to fix Hanna with a shocked look. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You seemed busy pining over Paige." Hanna answered, waving her hand dismissively. "But yes, I had sex with her three days ago and she still hasn't called me back."

Emily laughed nervously, her eyes shifting briefly to Paige. "I wasn't pining. She's exaggerating." She turned her attention back to Hanna, trying to focus on the matter at hand. "So you're mad about her not calling you back."

"Damn right I'm mad." Hanna answered with a huff.

"Why don't you just call her?" Paige asked obliviously, glancing between Emily and Hanna. "You do have her number, right?"

Hanna rolled her eyes. "Yes, I have her number. But she was supposed to call me, not the other way around."

"Why?"

"Because she's in love with her best friend and I'm not. The ball is in her court." Hanna explained impatiently. "It's up to her if she wants to see me again."

"Don't try to make sense of her logic." Emily smiled softly at Paige's confused look.

Hanna finally took a deep breath and glanced between Paige and Emily, noticing their close proximity. "Oh, did I interrupt something? Were you guys making out?"

"No." Emily answered though she didn't sound half as annoyed as she usually would have. She reached out and gripped Paige's hand. "But we do have news."

"You're back together?!" Hanna exclaimed loudly. "That's great, Em! I'm really happy for you."

"Thanks, Hanna." Emily smiled warmly back at her friend. Her eyes shifted quickly back to Paige though. "I'm happy too."

Paige bit her lip to suppress a grin and dipped her head only for Emily to playfully nudge her.

"Okay, you guys are sappy as hell. I'm going to leave you to your making out." Hanna announced, standing up to leave.

"You don't have to leave, I have to be getting home anyway." Paige said, giving Emily a regretful look. "Maybe we could do something tomorrow? Around six?"

"Sure." Emily answered, trying not to look too disappointed by Paige leaving. "Tomorrow sounds great."

"Great." Paige leaned in and gave Emily and almost chaste kiss before she stood up. "I'll see you later, Em. Hanna."

"Paige." Hanna smirked, plonking down next to Emily on the couch. She watched as Paige left to room before she turned to Emily. "So how did that happen?"

"Forget about that for a minute, I want to know about you and Amy." Emily retorted, raising an eyebrow. "Why didn't you tell me you slept with her? That's pretty big, Han."

Hanna shrugged. "You were moping over Paige, I didn't want to make it worse by telling you about the amazing sex I just had."

"First of all, I don't mope or pine." Emily said with a roll of her eyes though she couldn't bring herself to sound too offended. She had been kind of mopey for a while. "But I'm back with Paige, you can tell me now. Maybe just leave out the details."

Hanna laughed and shook her head. "As if I would spare you the details, Em."

TBC.


End file.
